Joined
·
5,803 Posts
Thanks to many weeks of work by Steve and the gang a tremendous slot car layout duly appeared ready for the public to try their hand at slotting while visiting Britain's round of the Intercontinental le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series. If nothing else, I think it proved quite a testament to the durability of their cars - and their considerable 'poke'!
Here are a few images of what was going on...
Pride of place among the entertainments:
![]()
The track in all its glory:
![]()
And that mighty straight:
![]()
Here comes the public!
![]()
![]()
While the track and cars ran and ran throughout the weekend, there were also two major events taking place.
On Saturday morning SCX hosted the competition that we had been plugging here on the Forum, with some high quality slotters to be seen in the field. Running for more than 2 hours in the traditional club racing format of each driver running on each of the lanes through the heats, victory ultimately went to Chris Lyons, who received a pair of tickets to next year's Le Mans 24 Hours, donated by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, a six-month subscription to Autosport magazine and a brand new SCX Pro Audi R8.
Chris received the spoils of victory from our pair of visiting legends: John Fitzpatrick, winner of the 1976 and 1979 Silverstone 6 Hours, and Desiré Wilson, winner of the 1980 Silverstone 6 Hours.
![]()
After much to-ing and fro-ing due to the team's ever-changing schedule, the Signatech Nissan drivers appeared later on Saturday afternoon to indulge in a little SCX action themselves. The idea was that the team's Spanish ace Lucas Ordoñez, who earned his scholarship to become an endurance racer by winning a worldwide talent competition for computer sim racers, should try his hand at the 'original racing game'. When his team-mates Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari got wind of the idea they were determined to have a go (and beat) Lucas, together with the journalists and photographers who arrived en masse to join in the fun.
With SCX graciously letting the Nissan boys run Slot.It R390s in deference to their employer - and giving the Pro-fettled Peugeot 908 and Audi R10 cars from its C4 Plus set to the media - what followed was, quite simply, carnage. Here is a flavour of the crashfest...
Yes that's right - the SCX cars out-dragged the Slot.Its off the startline every time!
![]()
Serious business...
![]()
![]()
Another heat, more first corner carnage
![]()
Some gripping race action as Mailleux and Ayari try to catch their team-mate
![]()
Ordoñez pressures Ayari into a little deslot
![]()
The end result was... erm... some very sorry-looking slot cars. However, the adjudicating panel of Steve declared that not only is Lucas Ordoñez a great computer sim and professional Le Mans racer, but he also deserved the title of Silverstone Slot Car King.
The girls agreed completely!
![]()
So there we are, a lot of fun was had by all and SCX deservedly cornered the market as far as interesting things to do as a spectator. Enormous thanks to Steve and the guys from SCX and North Staffs for all their efforts in the weeks leading up to the event and their marathon of putting in so many hours at the circuit over the four days of the race. Many thanks, too, must go to everyone who came along (especially the Oxford Scalextric Club delegation!), SlotForum, the Signatech Nissan team, John Fitzpatrick, Desiré Wilson, the ACO, Haymarket Publishing, JEXY1 for putting the wheels in motion and writing the programme copy, Pendle Slot Racing for its rapid response ordering for the Nissans and to the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series for hosting the event.
Here are a few images of what was going on...
Pride of place among the entertainments:
The track in all its glory:
And that mighty straight:
Here comes the public!
While the track and cars ran and ran throughout the weekend, there were also two major events taking place.
On Saturday morning SCX hosted the competition that we had been plugging here on the Forum, with some high quality slotters to be seen in the field. Running for more than 2 hours in the traditional club racing format of each driver running on each of the lanes through the heats, victory ultimately went to Chris Lyons, who received a pair of tickets to next year's Le Mans 24 Hours, donated by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, a six-month subscription to Autosport magazine and a brand new SCX Pro Audi R8.
Chris received the spoils of victory from our pair of visiting legends: John Fitzpatrick, winner of the 1976 and 1979 Silverstone 6 Hours, and Desiré Wilson, winner of the 1980 Silverstone 6 Hours.
After much to-ing and fro-ing due to the team's ever-changing schedule, the Signatech Nissan drivers appeared later on Saturday afternoon to indulge in a little SCX action themselves. The idea was that the team's Spanish ace Lucas Ordoñez, who earned his scholarship to become an endurance racer by winning a worldwide talent competition for computer sim racers, should try his hand at the 'original racing game'. When his team-mates Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari got wind of the idea they were determined to have a go (and beat) Lucas, together with the journalists and photographers who arrived en masse to join in the fun.
With SCX graciously letting the Nissan boys run Slot.It R390s in deference to their employer - and giving the Pro-fettled Peugeot 908 and Audi R10 cars from its C4 Plus set to the media - what followed was, quite simply, carnage. Here is a flavour of the crashfest...
Yes that's right - the SCX cars out-dragged the Slot.Its off the startline every time!
Serious business...
Another heat, more first corner carnage
Some gripping race action as Mailleux and Ayari try to catch their team-mate
Ordoñez pressures Ayari into a little deslot
The end result was... erm... some very sorry-looking slot cars. However, the adjudicating panel of Steve declared that not only is Lucas Ordoñez a great computer sim and professional Le Mans racer, but he also deserved the title of Silverstone Slot Car King.
The girls agreed completely!
So there we are, a lot of fun was had by all and SCX deservedly cornered the market as far as interesting things to do as a spectator. Enormous thanks to Steve and the guys from SCX and North Staffs for all their efforts in the weeks leading up to the event and their marathon of putting in so many hours at the circuit over the four days of the race. Many thanks, too, must go to everyone who came along (especially the Oxford Scalextric Club delegation!), SlotForum, the Signatech Nissan team, John Fitzpatrick, Desiré Wilson, the ACO, Haymarket Publishing, JEXY1 for putting the wheels in motion and writing the programme copy, Pendle Slot Racing for its rapid response ordering for the Nissans and to the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series for hosting the event.
